


Stolen Moments

by dcrksun



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst, BUT significantly less angst than my previous fic!!!, Birthday, Cute, Date Night, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Heartbreak, Inspired by Music, Kissing, M/M, Making Out, Poor Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, Rich Mark Lee (NCT), Secret Relationship, Sneaking Around, a present from me to you hehe, birthday fic, secret love song inspired
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:47:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23772553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dcrksun/pseuds/dcrksun
Summary: Sometimes, love has to be kept behind closed doors, no matter how much you wish it to be different. And sometimes, no matter how much you love someone, it isn't enough when it feels like the world is against you. There are times though, Mark thinks, when it's worth trying, despite the odds.Alternatively titled: Mark Lee's Guide to Secret Love
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 50
Kudos: 142





	Stolen Moments

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! 
> 
> It was my 19th birthday yesterday so this is a reverse birthday present, from me to you <3
> 
> I'm so grateful for all the support you guys have given me since I started writing and I really hope you enjoy this fic :D
> 
> It is just a short self-indulgent drabble but if you like reading it half as much as I enjoyed writing it, that's a success in my books!
> 
> Oh and as always, a huge thank you to my beta lil and tima for the fic inspiration!

**1\. Make the most of the secrecy — trust me, it can be fun**

Mark Lee isn't supposed to fall in love with Lee Donghyuck. He's meant to fall in love with Chenle Zhong, or Wong Yukhei, or another one of the city's eligible and rich bachelors. Or, more accurately, it doesn't matter whether he falls in love at all. He's just meant to marry one of them for money, and that's all that matters. 

"Love is irrelevant to people like us," his mother tells him countless times. "It's a privilege we do not share."

The words haunt Mark through his whole life. He holds hands with people and kisses them in the backseat of his car, but the whole time he's thinking that none of this matters because none of it will last. He takes people on picnics and on movie dates to see romcoms that make him cry because they all have happy endings and he'll never have his own. 

Mark Lee doesn't think he'll ever be happy, not really. He doesn't think he'll ever really learn to live — to love — without rules and without limits. 

That all changes the day he meets Lee Donghyuck, the mysterious, sunkissed waiter who can't seem to keep his mouth shut, and who makes Mark finally forget. 

He's making Mark forget right now, as he pushes him against the wall of the bathroom they had snuck into. His head hits the tiled surface with an audible thud but Mark barely registers it. His entire body feels like it's erupting with fireworks, his every inch pulsating with electricity, and all he can focus on is Donghyuck's hands on his skin, setting him aflame. 

Donghyuck's already fumbling with Mark's buttons and tugging at the sleeves of his wine stained dress shirt and Mark doesn't think he's ever been so eager to take his clothes off, to feel someone's touch — their warmth — against his skin as he is now. 

Mark knows Donghyuck is desperately longing for him too — otherwise, he wouldn't have risked his job, spilling wine on Mark at this fancy gala just to get him alone — and that makes this all that much sweeter. Whatever it is that is between them, it's like heroin. They cannot resist it, no matter the risk, no matter the cost. 

They're both shirtless now, skin on skin, but Mark still feels the need to pull Donghyuck closer, his fingers snaking through the boy's belt loops and yanking him forward with such ferocity that it screams he never wants to let go.

"I love you," Donghyuck mumbles before he's licking into his mouth and Mark can't even find it in himself to battle for dominance, he just lets out the softest moan, his eyes rolling back in his head. It's insane, the effect Donghyuck can have on him with nothing more than a kiss, and it's one of the many reasons Mark never fails to come back for more. 

"And I love you," he whispers against Donghyuck's lips, the words a bit muffled and breathy sounding, but holding more weight than Mark ever imagined possible. He never thought that one day he would love like this, so irrevocably and undeniably, in a way that made him believe in soulmates and meant-to-bes and happy endings. 

Donghyuck's lips don't stay long on Mark's before they travel to his jawline and his neck, nipping and sucking gently at the skin, making him forget that he's at this gala and he only excused himself to change his shirt and that he's going to have to go back. His thoughts entirely and wholly occupied by the feeling of those lips against his skin.

"Now the world can know you're mine, even if we can't tell them," Donghyuck mumbles softly as he takes in what Mark assumes to be quite the impressive hickey, and Mark can't even argue that he'll need to cover it up because there's nothing he wants as much as to wear that mark proudly, branding him Donghyuck's, and Donghyuck's alone. 

"I'm yours," he mumbles back breathlessly, his hands rubbing circles at the small of the other's back. "I'm yours and I always will be." He took a moment to look at Donghyuck then, his ruffled black hair, his rosy cheeks and his full pink lips that seemed to glisten now. Before he can fully take it in, Donghyuck closes the gap between them again, his mouth moving hungrily against Mark's own.

Mark feels Donghyuck's hands wandering down his body and massaging his thigh before he pulls back slightly, meeting his eyes like he's asking for permission to continue. Mark knows he should say no. He knows his excuse of changing his shirt is becoming less and less viable with every passing second. 

This moment, like their entire relationship, is a battle between his head and his heart, and yet again, his heart seems to win as a soft 'yes' escapes his lips. He wants Donghyuck — he wants him more than anything — and right now, he doesn't have the strength to resist. Honestly, it doesn't feel like Mark ever has the strength to resist since he met Donghyuck. The boy seems to be the exact opposite of his impulse control with the way he makes Mark feel like the entire world is at their feet, like anything is possible. 

No, Mark Lee isn't supposed to fall in love with Lee Donghyuck — but he does. He falls more and more in love with every smile and every touch, every word and every kiss. He falls in love with the way Donghyuck makes him feel and, as his lips reconnect with Mark's, he can't help but think that if Donghyuck is setting him on fire, then he wants to burn. 

**2\. Don't be afraid to tell each other how you feel**

Date nights aren't exactly frequent for a couple whose entire love story is a secret, especially when one of them is prominent in the public eye. 

That's why Mark hates himself so much as he's driving Donghyuck home to his little apartment in downtown New York and he finds that there are silent tears streaming down his face. He should be happy that they had such a beautiful night out and that he's sitting just inches away from the best person he's ever met.

Instead, he's sad, more so than he can even put into words. The small and practically empty vegan restaurant in the middle of nowhere where they had gone is just a silent reminder of the fact that he has to keep Donghyuck a secret, no matter how much he loves him.

Driving through the cheap and rundown neighbourhood where he lives is yet another reminder of how different they are, of the ways in which Donghyuck isn't someone Mark is allowed to love. 

He hates himself for thinking this way. God, he hates himself for allowing his parents' expectations to get to him like this, to make these thoughts even just cross through his head, but he can't shake this feeling. 

Mark keeps his gaze on the blurred scenery passing by, his head tilted away from Donghyuck and unusually silent. It's probably naive to think that he can hold it together enough for him not to notice and Donghyuck's hand on his shoulder confirms that. 

"Are you okay?" he asks softly.

"Yeah, I'm okay, Hyuckie," Mark replies after a moment, not turning to face Donghyuck but he knows that his muffled choked up voice already gave him away.

"No, you're not," Donghyuck sights, reaching for Mark's cheek and turning it so he's facing him. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

Of course, Mark knows that. If there's  _ one _ thing that Mark always knows no matter the turmoil inside his head, it's that he can count on Donghyuck. He can call him at ungodly hours and he'll still pick up and listen and say all the right things. He can ask him for some much needed company and he'll always say yes, even if he's just finished a twelve-hour shift and has another one to power through tomorrow. Donghyuck never lets him feel like anything less than his top priority, and Mark loves him for that. 

Usually, Donghyuck is his calm within the storm. Except this time, that storm isn't just his to deal with; it's Donghyuck's too, and they need to brave it together. Mark doesn't know what to do when his island of peace is swept up in the waves of chaos that define his life. 

"You make me want things I can't have," he says softly after a moment, the tears still streaming down his face. 

"I want to hold you in the streets," he says, his mind reeling with images. He sees them together in Paris, walking hand in hand towards the Eiffel Tower, laughing and talking and feeling like love really is in the air. He says them just wondering the local Christmas market, year after year, buying silly trinkets they don't need, and drinking too much mulled wine, and stopping under one of the mistletoes to share a kiss, not having to care who's looking, aside from maybe that one little girl who 'definitely shouldn't be seeing you stick your tongue down my throat, jeez, Hyuck.'

"I want to kiss you on the dance floor." Mark wants to take Donghyuck shopping for suits and have him take his breath away every time he walks out of that cubicle, then watch him take everyone else's breath away too as he walks down those glorious gala stairs with him by his side. He wants to ask him to dance with a fancy bow and an outreached hand, and he wants to hold him close as their bodies sway side by side. He wants to whisper sweet nothings in his ears until his eyes are practically overflowing with lust, then he wants to pull him even closer — far closer than appropriate in a venue like this — and he wants to kiss him with everything he's got.

"I want to say that I'm in love," Mark says, his voice cracking. He wants to walk up those grand stairs in his house and knock on his mother's door and say that he's found love, that maybe, after all, it is a possibility for people like them. He wants to excitedly call his best friend and tell him that he thinks he's found the one. He wants to rush to his father's office and ask him for the family ring when the time comes, his smile taking over his entire face, and he wants to watch his dad smile the same smile because all he cares about is that Mark's happy, not how much of the wedding bill this potential fiancé will foot. 

"Fuck, Hyuck, I'm so in love with you, I want to shout it from the rooftops," Mark says, desperation ringing clear in his voice, and he isn’t exaggerating. He would climb up endless stairs and rusty fire escapes, going from one roof to the other just so he can shout how fucking in love he’s with Lee Donghyuck. He wants the entire world to know.

By the time he gets through that, he’s full on ugly crying because god, he just loves Donghyuck so much, so why does the whole world have to be so against them? 

Usually, he'd be embarrassed, but at some point, Donghyuck must've pulled the partition between them and the chauffeur closed. Now, it's just him and Donghyuck, who's wrapping his arms around him in a tight embrace, and all Mark feels is safe and at home. 

"Who says we can't have all of those things one day, Markie?" Donghyuck asks him and it's so evident that he's hurting too that Mark feels like his heart is breaking in two. Their situation is impossible and painful and yet Donghyuck still finds a way to hold onto the hope that someday, somehow, somewhere, things will be different. 

"The world," Mark mumbles and he finds shame in his words — in the fact that he can't hold onto some ray of positivity rather than succumbing to the feelings of hopelessness that plague his mind. 

"Then fuck the world," Hyuck mutters and Mark can't help but chuckle until both of them are laughing through their tears.

"Fuck the world," Mark repeats, pressing his lips gently against Donghyuck's. 

"Nothing can change that I love you."

**3.Sometimes it's okay to go a little crazy**

"Are we there yet?" Mark asks as he stumbles forward and into Donghyuck's arms. "This is the billionth time I've fallen over since you put this blindfold on me."

"Patience, young Padawan," Donghyuck laughs, turning Mark so he's facing… well, Mark doesn't know where exactly but supposedly towards whatever surprise it is that Donghyuck prepared.

Judging by the gentle wind that's now rustling his hair and the fact that Donghyuck led him into a building first, Mark guesses that they're on a balcony, though he isn't entirely sure given how excited the younger boy seems about this surprise date.

"I'm going to count down then you can take the blindfold off, okay?"

"Okay," Mark nods with a grin, straining his ears as Donghyuck rustles with something, but he doesn't have time to wonder what he's doing because he's already counting down.

Mark peels the cloth away from his face to reveal that he's in fact standing on a rooftop, overlooking downtown New York and Central Park. It's breathtaking and beautiful and Mark can't help the grin that takes over his features. He finishes scanning the view just as the first chord of Frank Sinatra's I Love You Baby sounds from the ancient looking boombox beside Donghyuck, and Mark has to hold back a laugh.

God, Donghyuck. He's standing there in quite possibly the ugliest purple suit Mark had seen in his whole entire life and yet still looking so gorgeous that Mark's breath catches. 

"Ohmygod, Hyuck," he giggles but he's stunned to silence again when Donghyuck starts belting out the song's first lyrics. He's clearly not taking himself too seriously as he half dances, pointing at Mark when he sings the chorus, but he just sounds so angelic and god, Mark is just so in love. 

When he gets to the second chorus, Donghyuck grabs Mark's hand, pulling him towards him. "It's your turn baby," he grins, holding the microphone towards his face. Mark had never even done karaoke before but as he's standing there on that roof, next to the boy he loves, something — call it adrenaline if you want, though Mark just thinks he's high off love — races through his veins and he grabs the microphone with a sense of confidence he didn't think he had. 

"Let me love youuuuu," the two of them finish the song together, cheeks flushed and a little out of breath but grinning endlessly. 

"Fucking hell, I love you," Mark mutters as he pulls Donghyuck to him by his lapel, their lips instantly finding each other despite the hasty move.

The boombox keeps playing in the background — a gentler melody this time — and when Donghyuck pulls apart just seconds later, he's extending his hand towards Mark in a way that he knows very well. 

"I know this isn't a fancy gala or a real dance floor." He smiles. "But may I have this dance?"

"This is far better than any gala." Mark grins as he places his hands on either side of Donghyuck's waist as they begin to sway. They dance for what seems like absolutely forever and in that time Mark learns two simple things: Donghyuck is an even worse dancer than he thought, and Mark is even more in love with him than he could've ever imagined. 

"I think something's missing," Donghyuck says when the last song is coming to an end, and Mark tilts his head in confusion. "Don't you want to kiss me in the middle of the dance floor?" 

God, Mark could cry in that moment. Their rooftop date… it's a perfect reflection of what Mark said he wanted but that he didn't they could ever have. His heart is practically bursting and he doesn't think he's ever grinned so wide before

"There's nothing I want as much," he mutters, his lips already pressing against Donghyuck's. They stay like that for what seems like forever, gently swaying to the music then just to the sound of the city below, and Mark can't help but think that he really wouldn't mind it if this really was their forever. 

"Hyuckie, this was the most perfect date ever," he says softly, brushing his thumb over Donghyuck's bottom lip. "I haven't had this much fun in… well, I can't remember the last time."

"And it's not over yet," comes the response paired with a mischievous grin. "Just wait here." When Donghyuck next appears, he's holding a picnic basket in one hand, a blanket in the other. "I can't make your wish of holding me in the streets come true, but I did my best to bring the streets to us." He smiles a toothy grin and god, Mark's heart swells. It really seems that every single thing Donghyuck does is just making him fall more and more in love. 

"I made mulled wine." Donghyuck grins as he pours the red liquid from a thermos into two mugs. "It's kind of meant to be bringing a Christmas market to us, because I know you really wanted to go last year. And erm, I got some croissants so it's a little bit like Paris, and some pizza for Italy? I know it's not perfect but —"

Mark presses a finger against Donghyuck's lips to shut him up, before meeting his eyes. 

"It  _ is  _ perfect," he smiles. "You are perfect." 

"Is it really?" Donghyuck asks and Mark means it more than anything when he nods his head yes. The whole date is perfect. He sang and danced with the love of his love, laughed until his sides hurt and now he's sitting here, drinking mulled wine as he watches the sun lower behind the buildings, illuminating Donghyuck's silhouette and making him practically glow in the rays of the setting sun. Yeah, if Mark had to choose one word to describe all that, it would undoubtedly be perfect. 

"Well, there is one last thing I have to do," he grins, standing up and walking towards the edge of the building. 

"What's —" 

Donghyuck's question is interrupted by Mark's voice as he starts to shout from the rooftop. "I'm in love with Lee Donghyuck," his voice booms and Donghyuck is laughing so hard he can barely pull him away from the edge and towards himself. 

"God, you must be drunk," he laughs, their faces just inches away from each other. "Or crazy. Or both."

"No," Mark giggles, leaning forward until their foreheads are touching. "Well, maybe I am a little bit of both — but most importantly, I'm in love."

"And I'm in love with you," Donghyuck replies, before sighing. "That's the only part of your wish I can't do anything about. Telling people that you're in love."

"Didn't I just tell you?" Mark asks with a smile.

"Yeah, but I don't know. That's not the same, is it?"

This time, Mark shuts him up with a kiss. Out of everyone in the world that he wants to tell how in love he is, Donghyuck is by far the most important.

"No. It's far better."

**4.Don't be afraid to ask for more**

"I think we need to talk," Donghyuck's voice sounds through the phone, and judging by his tone, Mark is sure he's already seen the picture of him and Yukhei that have been circulating in every single New York City news outlet. 

The photo in itself wasn't much — just the two of them getting lunch — but Mark knew exactly how much a painful reminder it was of the fact that he has a whole other life and that Donghyuck won't ever fit into that. 

"Meet me at that cafe on 32nd street. As soon as you can," he speaks again before Mark can even respond. A beep signals the end of the call and Mark feels his throat constricting at the thought of the conversation he knows they're about to have.

He doesn't bother to get changed out of his casual home clothes but that's the least of the reason he looks like a mess by the time he gets to the cafe. His hair is dishevelled from the number of times he's run his hand through it and his hands themselves are read from wringing them the whole way here. He honestly won't be surprised if his eyes are bloodshot too because tears he has no right to shed just yet have been burning at his eyes since Donghyuck's abrupt call.

In stark contrast to him, Donghyuck looks gorgeous as always. Golden skin, perfectly tousled hair and the biker jacket that Mark so loved to steal. It's only when he looks up and meets Mark's eyes that it's clear he's upset, his eyes shining a little too much, his smile a little too strained. 

"Hi," Mark says softly as he sits down, a subtle gesture of his hand waving away the waitress who was about to ask him for his order. He feels a little rude about it as soon as he does it — and he knows Donghyuck will think so too — but right now, he has more important things to be worried about. "I'm guessing you saw the papers."

Donghyuck just nods and Mark feels like his eyes are boring into his soul. 

"I just wanted to say —"

"Don't waste your breath explaining the photos," Donghyuck cuts him off. "I'm not mad. I mean, it's not as if I didn't know going into this that you were practically set to marry him."

"You're not mad?" Mark asks, a relieved sigh leaving his lips.

"No. I'm upset," comes the answer and there's so much frustration in Donghyuck's words that Mark nearly shudders. "I'm really fucking upset because I'm in love with you, and we have no future. No matter how many times you say you love me, it doesn't change the fact that he's the one you're somehow supposed to love."

There's something in his tone that Mark can't quite recognise — something different to the other times they had spoken about things like this, and something a little too akin to disgust.

"You sound a little mad," Mark gets out after a pause and god, he's never felt like his words had been as inadequate a reply as they are now.

Donghyuck almost laughs as he runs a hand through his hair. 

"God, Mark, of course, I'm mad. Not at this fucking article, but at our whole situation. But most importantly, I'm just so mad at you for acting like you love me then carrying on with your life like I don't mean anything to you."

"I —"

"No, let me finish," Donghyuck halts Mark's attempt at an apology. "You mean the world to me, Mark. I would throw everything away if it meant I had you. And I am so unbelievably tired of feeling like you wouldn't do any of that for me. I'm tired of being last on your list of priorities — below all you pretences and fake love life. If I'm going to love someone, I want them to love me back."

Donghyuck's words hit Mark like a ton of bricks, and it's not because he's angry, nor because he's upset. It's because he's right.

Mark has always known that he had certain obligations to his family. He knows that the family business has struggled, that they owed a lot of money to a lot of people who wouldn't just patiently wait. He knows that marrying Yukhei is what he  _ has  _ to do, no matter what his heart tells him.

"Love is irrelevant to people like us," his mother tells him countless times. "It's a privilege we do not share."

It's a sentiment Mark tries his best to ignore and Donghyuck helps him do just that. He makes him feel so in love that he forgets his commitments and his duties, and starts to believe that maybe he can be truly happy by his side. 

Alas, feelings don't alter reality and unlike movies would have you think, love does not conquer all. He has spent far too long letting himself get lost in Mark's arms, and lips, and honey kissed skin. He lost the distinction between solving a problem and letting yourself forget that it exists.

"You're right," Mark says after a moment, his eyes glinting with tears.

"I am?" Donghyuck asks, and the look of hope is so clear across his features that it makes Mark's heart ache. He was clearly expecting an argument, for Mark to tell him that it's not so easy and that things like this take time. He seems relieved now, like he thinks Mark's understanding can only mean one thing and this knowledge makes the next words even harder to say.

"Yeah, you're right. You deserve someone who can give you all of those things, and more. And that person isn't — and never will be — me, no matter how much I wish it could be."

Painful realisation dawns across Donghyuck's face with every word that leaves Mark's lips, and part of him wants nothing more than to suck it all back and tell him to just have patience and that things would work out. He wants to lie, not as much to the boy sitting opposite him in that small cafe, but to himself. He wants to believe that this doesn't have to be the end, even though their relationship has already run beyond its course.

"I love you, Mark." Donghyuck's voice is a protest, a plea for mercy and Mark feels like he's being stabbed in the heart. He ignores it.

"And I love you, Lee Donghyuck," he says softly as he slides to the edge of his seat. "But that's exactly why I know this has to come to an end."

An end. It's no glorious finale, no extraordinary showdown. It's a few quiet words exchanged over a tiny table in a dingy booth in a tiny cafe with no significance to anyone but them. They didn't even raise their voices or give the smallest of hints that anything was wrong. 

Their relationship had burned like a wildfire but now it was dwindling unceremoniously until there was nothing left but ashes and broken hearts. 

It hurts even more to be ending it here of all places, at a venue that played such a crucial part in the beginning of their relationship. Mark remembers the two of them sitting in that same cubicle on their first, giddy and laughing. He remembers how weirdly perfect everything between them felt, and how he thought it must mean something that something so wrong felt so right. He remembers walking out of the cafe, his heart beating in his chest, a grin on his face that he couldn't wipe off even if he tried.

As he walks across that cobbled floor now, his heart is pounding just as much but smiling is the last thing he wants to do. 

He glances back at Donghyuck one last time, his eyes catching on the cup of coffee in front of him and he pulls out his wallet, feeling an inexplicable obligation to pay.

He leaves the first note his fingers wrap around on the counter, not even bothering to check how much it was and ignoring the voice of one of the waitresses telling him to wait for his change.

A hundred dollar bill. 

Out of all the things in the world that Mark Lee could easily have, true love is the one luxury he cannot afford. 

**5\. Ignore all this advice. After all, some things aren't meant to work out, and when the whole world seems to be against you, that's probably a sign.**

**Author's Note:**

> .....before you tell me that I broke your heart, I just want to say that I am also the one who wrote That Mark Dying Fic,,, so a) what were you expecting and b) I think this is a definite improvement from that! 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!! If you liked it, I would really appreciate it if you left some kudos and comments :D
> 
> Alsoooo, leave me some messages on  
> [my curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/dcrksun)  
> and  
> [my twitter](https://twitter.com/dcrksun) dms are always open!!


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